Growing Pains

Scripture: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed… struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9)
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)

There are seasons in a church’s life when you can’t separate the feelings. Joy and sorrow show up holding hands. Hope and heaviness sit in the same pew. You’re making plans for what’s next, and at the same time, you’re missing what used to be. The calendar is full, and the heart feels thin.

That’s what “growing pains” can feel like at Pine Street—like God is doing something new while we’re still carrying what hurts.

Because growth is not just adding. Sometimes it’s also letting go.
Growth asks questions like: What do we keep? What do we change? What do we make room for?
And grief asks: Why does this feel like loss? Why does my chest ache when I should be excited?

For some time now, I have been trying to put my finger on what I have been feeling, and perhaps you have to at church. Growing pains and grief sit together on the same pew. Here’s the honest truth: grief isn’t only about death. Grief is also what we feel when something beloved shifts. When a chapter closes. When the familiar becomes unfamiliar. When faces change. When routines change. When the “way we’ve always done it” isn’t possible anymore. And even when the changes are good—especially when the changes are good—there can still be mourning.

So, if you’ve felt both gratitude and sadness lately, you’re not failing. You’re alive. You’re paying attention. You’re loving something deeply. Our church is changing. It has been for some time now. We often just do not want to admit what is going on around us.

In the present, we are welcoming new things, new ideas, and new people, while letting go of ways that, while once serving us well, no longer help us in our mission. There is a natural tension there. But tension is not a negative thing if it draws us closer to God and one another, to prayer, and seeking God’s will in all things. It can be exciting and frightening at the same time, but that is the nature of any faith walk or journey. Each of us must be willing to ask ourselves what is best for our church and for its future, and how can I participate in God’s unfolding vision.

Sometimes we think a faithful church should look “together.” But Scripture shows something else: God often does God’s best work when people are a little undone—when they’re honest, when they’re dependent, when they’re clinging to grace instead of their own strength.

So, what do we do when growing pains and grief are all mixed together?

We do what the early church did:

• We keep showing up for one another.
• We tell the truth about what we feel.
• We bless what has been, without idolizing it.
• We open our hands for what can be.
• We take the next faithful step, not the whole staircase.
• We trust that Jesus is in the middle of it—because Jesus is always in the middle of it.

Pine Street, this season may be messy. But messy is not meaningless. In God’s hands, messy can be holy. I am praying that God will continue to lead us and guide us together in the Spirit of love as we discover our future as a congregation. May Pine Street be a place where tears are welcome, and joy is not rushed, where change is guided by love, and where God’s Spirit keeps forming us into one body.